Front Yard Landscaping
11 Oct 2008
THE DESIRE for front yard landscaping that is more relaxed, informal and designed for a healthy living style is resulting in a growing awareness of the importance of front yard landscaping to a home.
The Value of Well Designed Front Yard Landscaping
WHEN you buy a new house or make the decision to improve your old one, you should be, of course, concerned with every foot of ground that goes with it, for modern living and modern gardening can make every square foot of your property usable and desirable. The front yard landscaping is also the first thing people will see when they come to your home and will create the first impression.
These days, new methods of grading, fencing, soil improvement and terracing make even sloping, hilly lots, previously undesirable front yard landscaping, now attractive and choice. Modern chemistry has brought new ways to add nutrients to the soil and has provided weapons against the traditional enemies of the garden: insects and disease. Hardier bulbs and seeds make gardens more successful and wonderfully vivid. Hybrids have lengthened the list of flowering trees and shrubs, creating new specimens for every color and design scheme, and for every type of house and garden.
New equipment and materials speed the time-consuming front yard landscaping tasks. New ways of living bring us into the outdoors, and comfortable lawn furnishings make a small suburban front and back yard as luxuriously enjoyable as was previously possible only on a large estate.
Today’s house is often much more a part of the outdoors than was yesterday’s with large picture windows, glass walls, glassed-in sun-porches and terraces. These all combine to make the front yard landscaping and garden a part of the house and consequently, the view becomes that much more important.
Beautiful front yard landscaping, a luxuriant lawn and healthy blossoming trees all add as much to the interior of your home as your draperies or wallpaper and the effort and time you spend on your lawn and garden will repay you in every way, indoors as well as out.
Front Yard Landscaping Principles
You will be governed by many of the principles you employ in decorating your home when you plan your front yard landscaping. Texture, color, proportion, line, harmony and function — are terms that apply to landscaping as well as decorating. And if you have a large yard you will benefit from careful planning just as much as someone with a smaller lot.
Although garden books are filled with formal plans for perfect gardens and front yard landscaping, you will want to consider not the perfect garden in itself, but the one plan that will be perfect for your particular situation. Analyze your family’s needs and habits; and then design your front yard landscaping to best satisfy it’s preferences, desires and requirements.
Front Yard Landscaping Plans
Hold a family council and talk over what you want to do. Make a list of the things the family wants, such as a playhouse, rock garden, barbecue, tool house, drying yard, fences, badminton court, better lounging facilities, etc. Draw a plan of your property in a fairly large scale, about 1/4 inch to the foot.
Unless you are fortunate and have spacious grounds, you probably won’t be able to work everything into your program. And of course, you will be governed by questions of cost and available space, but with intelligent planning, you can install your front yard landscaping gradually. You can plan your front yard landscaping so that it never looks bare and yet is roomy enough for any additions you plan on making in the future.
In addition, some projects will serve more than one function. For example, if you need a driveway and have young children, a blacktop that can be used for basketball and roller skating will serve a double purpose, and easily justify the cost.
Or a fence that blocks out an unpleasant view can also act as a wind break and a handsome background for a lounge area. A retaining wall can double as a rock garden when planted with hardy dwarf shrubs, as well as other rock-garden species.
Ultimately, front yard landscaping, if intelligently planned and properly executed will not only add to the comfort of your home and improve its appearance it will also increase the value of your home.
Check out some of the articles on this site to learn more about front yard landscaping.
